Script to convert FrameMaker (OS9) documents

[Marc Heusser]

Preparing for the arrival of my MacBookPro (after my 17" G4 has been
stolen :-( I need to convert thousands of documents (from 1988 onwards
up to 2005) as FrameMaker does not run anymore on Intel Macs (never been
ported to Mac OS X, my last OS 9 application).
As far as I know it is fairly well controllable from the outside with
AppleScript?
I'd need to open every .fm (FrameMaker) document, save as MIF (special
Frame Maker Interchange format, similar to XML, ascii), save as text and
save as PostScript (using print dialog) to be converted to .pdf
afterwards by Adobe Distiller (3.0, still running under OS 9) or
Quartz/Preview (Mac OS X).
How do I do that automatically, ie traversing entire hierarchies of
folders, searching for those files, and opening them one after the other
while saving in 3 formats each?
I have never used AppleScript or such, code examples/fragments to
achieve the above would be most helpful (either using OS 9 tools or Mac
OS X).

TIA

Marc

[Neil Gould]

Recently, Marc Heusser

Post by Marc Heusser
Preparing for the arrival of my MacBookPro (after my 17" G4 has been
stolen :-( I need to convert thousands of documents (from 1988 onwards
up to 2005) as FrameMaker does not run anymore on Intel Macs (never
been ported to Mac OS X, my last OS 9 application).
As far as I know it is fairly well controllable from the outside with
AppleScript?
I'd need to open every .fm (FrameMaker) document, save as MIF (special
Frame Maker Interchange format, similar to XML, ascii), save as text
and save as PostScript (using print dialog) to be converted to .pdf
afterwards by Adobe Distiller (3.0, still running under OS 9) or
Quartz/Preview (Mac OS X).
How do I do that automatically, ie traversing entire hierarchies of
folders, searching for those files, and opening them one after the
other while saving in 3 formats each?
I have never used AppleScript or such, code examples/fragments to
achieve the above would be most helpful (either using OS 9 tools or
Mac OS X).

I see that you haven't gotten a response as yet, so here's my
non-Mac-Frame-user opinion.

AFAIK, in order to open your FM docs for conversion to MIF, you'd need
Framemaker. There are some utilities to convert MIF to the other formats.

Regards,

[Simon Slavin]

On 04/04/2006, Marc Heusser wrote in message <marc.heusser-

Post by Marc Heusser
As far as I know it is fairly well controllable from the outside with
AppleScript?

Find out for sure. Yes it does:

http://www.adobe.com/support/techdocs/315021.html

Post by Marc Heusser
I'd need to open every .fm (FrameMaker) document, save as MIF (special
Frame Maker Interchange format, similar to XML, ascii), save as text and
save as PostScript (using print dialog) to be converted to .pdf
afterwards by Adobe Distiller (3.0, still running under OS 9) or
Quartz/Preview (Mac OS X).
How do I do that automatically, ie traversing entire hierarchies of
folders, searching for those files, and opening them one after the other
while saving in 3 formats each?
I have never used AppleScript or such, code examples/fragments to
achieve the above would be most helpful (either using OS 9 tools or Mac
OS X).

Traversing folder hierarchies is relatively easy in AppleScript.

If FrameMaker requires the Classic emulation layer, then you will get best
results by using Classic tools to write and run your AppleScript script.

Once you are sure that FrameMaker supports using AppleScript to export
files to other formats, you might find the group

alt.comp.lang.applescript

useful. Do /not/ crosspost to that group: decide on a group and post to
it.

Simon.

[Tim Murray]

Post by Marc Heusser
Preparing for the arrival of my MacBookPro (after my 17" G4 has been
stolen :-( I need to convert thousands of documents (from 1988 onwards
up to 2005) as FrameMaker does not run anymore on Intel Macs (never been
ported to Mac OS X, my last OS 9 application).
As far as I know it is fairly well controllable from the outside with
AppleScript?
I'd need to open every .fm (FrameMaker) document, save as MIF (special
Frame Maker Interchange format, similar to XML, ascii), save as text and
save as PostScript (using print dialog) to be converted to .pdf
afterwards by Adobe Distiller (3.0, still running under OS 9) or
Quartz/Preview (Mac OS X).
How do I do that automatically, ie traversing entire hierarchies of
folders, searching for those files, and opening them one after the other
while saving in 3 formats each?
I have never used AppleScript or such, code examples/fragments to
achieve the above would be most helpful (either using OS 9 tools or Mac
OS X).

I would not be so quick to write off using Frame. There are solutions for
running pre-OS X applications without Classic per se, and further, with
http://www.parallels.com/en/products/workstation/mac/ and Apple Boot Camp,
you can -- probably -- run Windows Frame.

[Martin]

On 2006-04-27 19:10:16 +0100, Marc Heusser

Post by Marc Heusser
Preparing for the arrival of my MacBookPro (after my 17" G4 has been
stolen :-( I need to convert thousands of documents (from 1988 onwards
up to 2005) as FrameMaker does not run anymore on Intel Macs (never
been ported to Mac OS X, my last OS 9 application).
As far as I know it is fairly well controllable from the outside with
AppleScript?
I'd need to open every .fm (FrameMaker) document, save as MIF (special
Frame Maker Interchange format, similar to XML, ascii), save as text
and save as PostScript (using print dialog) to be converted to .pdf
afterwards by Adobe Distiller (3.0, still running under OS 9) or
Quartz/Preview (Mac OS X).
How do I do that automatically, ie traversing entire hierarchies of
folders, searching for those files, and opening them one after the
other while saving in 3 formats each?
I have never used AppleScript or such, code examples/fragments to
achieve the above would be most helpful (either using OS 9 tools or Mac
OS X).
TIA
Marc

Marc,

Can't help you directly with coding examples, but...

You might consider using QuicKeys instead of AppleScript? There are OS9
and OS X versions (obviously you'd need the Classic version - $79.95
for the full version). It might take you a good while to generate the
initial 'scripts', but I suspect that, once up and running, it would be
very quick. I would practise on a small copy 'dummy' version of your
filing system, to avoid messing up the real files (and make a couple of
backup copies of your original files to an external drive, too -
probably teaching you to suck eggs, but I'd hate you to lose stuff!).
The one issue I can see is when it comes to actually saving the files -
you might need to interrupt the automated process to allow you to
specify different target directories, but that is do-able in QuicKeys.

You'd be best doing the thing in chunks, rather than trying to do the
whole thing in one shot. How easy that is depends on how many chunks of
Frame files you have (sounds like a lot). Whichever method you choose
(QuicKeys or AppleScript) it's not going to be simple and quick I don't
think. There will have to be some degree of manual intervention. The
initial search for all your .fm files will be one of the things you
will probably need to do with the terminal, or spotlight. I'm not a
unix expert, but the grep command would allow you to generate suitable
lists of files and folders.

Obviously, the simplest way would be to have all the Frame files in one
directory. However, I know that won't be possible if, like me, you have
all your projects in their own folders with graphics imported by
reference.

I'm still managing to run Frame, but am saddened I can't upgrade my Mac
hardware. Frame is my main tool, and it's now limiting my productivity.
What are you going to do once you're running in a Frame-free
environment on your MacBook?

Hope some of the above helps.

Martin

[Steve Hix]

Post by Martin
On 2006-04-27 19:10:16 +0100, Marc Heusser

Post by Marc Heusser
Preparing for the arrival of my MacBookPro (after my 17" G4 has been
stolen :-( I need to convert thousands of documents (from 1988 onwards
up to 2005) as FrameMaker does not run anymore on Intel Macs (never
been ported to Mac OS X, my last OS 9 application).
[snip]

I'm still managing to run Frame, but am saddened I can't upgrade my Mac
hardware. Frame is my main tool, and it's now limiting my productivity.
What are you going to do once you're running in a Frame-free
environment on your MacBook?

I'm in the same boat. My last Classic-capable Mac will be a Mini, as
soon as I replace the 12" PowerBook with a MacBook.

The plan here is to get and install Parallels, preferably install Win2K,
and get FM 7.1 with xml; I'll be up to date with upcoming job
requirements that way.

Actually, for work, the main internal Frame support guy noted that I can
do most everything on FM 7.0 on the Mac, and then slug book files over
to a Solaris box to run the custom tools, usually only near the very end
of a project cycle.

I blame Adobe for all the inconvenience and expense and annoyance.